New Zealand’s prime minister has essentially turned a blind eye to the pact – she knows taking the moral high ground leads to punishmentNew Zealand defence hawks reacted to the announcement of the anglophone security pact Aukus this month by complainin…
‘Racism is rampant’: Alien Weaponry, the metal band standing up for Māori culture
The New Zealand trio have gone global thanks to their forthright Māori-language songs, which confront colonial history and ongoing inequalityNew Zealand was a war zone in the mid-1800s. On one side were the British and the colonial government, craving …
Slow moving turtle delays five planes at Japan airport
Airport workers occasionally remove stray cats and racoon dogs from the runway but turtle sightings are rareTurtles on a Runway probably will never rival Snakes on a Plane for dramatic effect, but one reptile has made headlines after an innocent amble …
The East review – war is hell … for the bloodthirsty imperialists
Jim Taihuttu’s story of Dutch soldiers in Indonesia is as short-sighted as the old-fashioned colonialists it is trying to criticiseThe canonisation of Apocalypse Now has resulted in a cinematic template for the psychological war epic where the battlefi…
Race to the bottom: the disastrous blindfolded rush to mine the deep sea
One of the largest mining operations ever seen on Earth aims to despoil an ocean we are only barely beginning to understandA short bureaucratic note from a brutally degraded microstate in the South Pacific to a little-known institution in the Caribbean…
South Korean president suggests ban on eating dog meat
Moon Jae-in, a dog-lover, says ‘time has come’ for traditional practice to endThe South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, has raised banning the eating of dogs in the country, his office said, a traditional practice that is becoming an international embar…
Japan urged to abolish third-party consent from abortion law
Restrictions amount to ‘sexual assault’ on women by Japanese state, say rights campaignersWomen’s health campaigners have urged Japan’s government to amend a law that forces married women to seek consent from their husbands before they can have an abo…
China to limit abortions for ‘non-medical purposes’
Government says clampdown is aimed at improving women’s reproductive health, but it comes amid anxiety about the nation’s falling birth rateChina will reduce the number of abortions performed for “non-medical purposes”, the country’s cabinet announced …
China clamps down on cartoons in latest morality move
Entertainment industry told to uphold ‘truth, goodness and beauty’ and remove vulgar and violent contentChina’s broadcasting regulator said it will encourage online producers to create “healthy” cartoons and clamp down on violent, vulgar or pornographi…
‘Free and open’: Quad leaders call for ‘stable’ Indo-Pacific in veiled China dig
Joe Biden meets leaders of Australia, India and Japan in latest effort to cement US leadership in Asia US president Joe Biden and the leaders of Australia, India and Japan highlighted their Quad group’s role in safeguarding a stable, democratic Indo-Pa…